


Skip That Stage

by MarlaLannisterErsoDanGlokta



Series: Death's a Shame [2]
Category: Falsettos - Lapine/Finn
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, F/F, F/M, Ghost whizzer, HIV/AIDS, Hurt No Comfort, M/M, Post-Canon, Suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-21
Updated: 2019-02-21
Packaged: 2019-11-02 00:18:15
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17877536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MarlaLannisterErsoDanGlokta/pseuds/MarlaLannisterErsoDanGlokta
Summary: Marvin is going to die, there is nothing he can do about it, but he can still choose the way he goes...and that is what he is going to do.(I still suck at summaries, sorry).





	Skip That Stage

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, firstly MAJOR TRIGGER WARNING ABOUT SUICIDE THEMES AND GENERAL ANGST, THERE IS NOTHING NICE IN HERE.  
> Secondly, this was really, really hard to write, I put all my heart and mind to it and I am still scared it is not sensitive enough...I’ll let you be the judge of it.  
> Thirtly, this is a sequel (shorta kinda) of my previous OneShot “A Graceful Leave”, that, oversimplifying, basically covers Whizzer’s death, but it can be read as a totally individual fic.  
> As always, please forgive all my Spanish and quick tipper mistakes.  
> I hope you like it,  
> Marla

“We have to tell all of you something really important.”  
Cordelia stood up as she spoke, making Charlotte blush slightly. She knew it was stupid -after all, these people had become, somehow, the family she had never dreamt of; and they had had a dinner all together once a month for quite a while already-, but she felt exposed.  
“It's not that important...I got a promotion.”  
Everyone started cheering her (specially Jason, who had recently started to show interest on her job; thing of what she was quite proud, the kid would make a great doctor), but she still felt as if something was off, though she couldn't tell what exactly.  
Something concerning the man of whom she had grown fond enough to call him her ‘best friend’.

Later on that very same Friday night, when they had already left Trina and Mendel's house and came back to their own apartments, once Cordelia and Jason respectively had entered their homes, Charlotte grabbed Marvin by the arm, making him stay in the spot for a second.  
“What did you want to tell me?”  
He pretended not to know what she was talking about, showing how his acting skills were even worse than his sport ones.  
“Nothing, you must have dreamt that I had something to tell you…”  
She raised an eyebrow, suspicious.  
“Whatever, I can't make you cut the crap unwillingly. I wish you changed your mind, though.”  
She turned one more time before closing her door to watch her friend's back with a worried face.  
He had started to look thinner and thinner and she knew it wouldn't be long before he had to be hospitalized, probably not to come back home ever again.  
And, while he was at the hospital, before the pain and the general degradation were too huge to be stood, she would help him leave as gratefully as his lover did.  
There was no discussion possible.

\---------

“Dad, are you even less ok than usual?”  
Jason had already stopped pretending his father was alright; he was conscious Marvin was starting to fade away and that, sooner rather than later, he was going to lose another dad.  
However, Marvin still tried to make the kid comfortable and to reassure him as much as possible.  
“Don’t worry, everything's fine buddy. Now, go to sleep.”  
He dismissed him with a hand and waited until the teenager disappeared to collapse on the sofa.  
Lately, the symptoms had been getting worse by the day and he knew he was at the brink of breaking down both physically and mentally; then to the hospital, where he knew Charlotte will help him to go before everything became even more unbearable...it was just...with the woman's promotion, he had started to realise the risk he was putting her in…  
...before he could keep thinking about all this, his body betrayed him, making him fall asleep on the spot.

\--------------

He woke up in his bed and he couldn't help but feeling ashamed as he realised the only way he could have gotten there was due to his son carrying him.  
Then, all of the sudden, he noticed something odd...he wasn't feeling sick.  
Not that he was feeling any good, either.  
“You crowned yourself again, uh? I am still trying to figure out why on fucking Earth I still love you.”  
His skin crawled, as he saw the man lying next to him. He didn't look as he usually did in his dreams, but just as he had done before he passed: so skinny that he could be broken in half at any moment, full of small injuries and with greyish skin.  
“Whizz…”  
He attempted to touch him, almost desperately, but the other man refused as violently as his weak state allowed him.  
“Don't you dare. You know you are going to ruin your best friend's career, don't you? Because the moment you enter the hospital she's not going to let you down willingly, and nobody can tell that woman not to do something.”  
The older man scoffed.  
“And what should I do, then?”  
To his surprise, his dead lover quickly changed his attitude, approached him gently and looked into his eyes with a hint of melancholy.  
“You always bragged about being smart.” He took a second to cough, small blood drops into both men's hands. “I'll be waiting.”

\-------

He woke up, this time for real, with Whizzer's voice still echoing inside his head and the warm feeling of blood on his hands. He looked around, it was still night.  
He smiled a little. At least, he could reach his bedroom so his son wouldn’t have to watch him lying flat on the couch in the most decrepit of all states.  
It was the closest thing to a victory he could achieve at this point.

Before he fell asleep again, in that bed that was too big for only one consumed man, he already knew how he was leaving the scene.  
Never before pain and fear had felt so good.

\-------

The phone was ringing when Trina, Mendel and Jason arrived home from their weekend off.  
The younger of the three of them was about to pick up the phone, but his step-father prevented him by rushing towards the machine.  
He answered with an unusually calmed but trembling voice.  
“Yeah, I understand...I guess you already know the answer Charlotte...Yeah, stubborn but right…Now I have to hang...Be there in a couple of hours”.  
He hung, breathed deeply and turned his head to his wife and child.  
“We need to talk.” 

\--------

If anyone had told Marvin how difficult it was to prepare your own hanging when you can barely stand on your feet, he might have reconsidered it.  
But now it was too late; everything had already been planned.  
He had even asked Mendel to come by and told him everything.

At the beginning, his former psychiatrist had tried to talk him out of it but, finally, he'd come around.  
“I am dying anyway. At least this way Charlotte won't have to risk her job and Jason won't have to watch all over again what happened to…” He choked, unable to pronounce his name.  
Tentatively, Mendel put a comforting hand on his shoulder.  
“I get it. I'll take them out for the weekend and we'll be back on Sunday evening, just after Charlotte's usual check out on you.”  
Marvin burst into tears.  
“I am so sorry, about everything.”  
The other man knew there was nothing he could possibly say or do to make him feel better.  
So they just stayed there for a little while, drowning in the silence of the inevitable.

Marvin breathed deeply. Just a small step and everything will be over.  
He smiled, scared as Hell but also relieved.  
“One minute more…”  
He took the step.

**Author's Note:**

> And that was it, I wish it was good enough.  
> All feedback is appreciated,  
> Long live and prosperity,  
> Marla Lannister Erso Dan Glokta


End file.
